Understanding how ecosystem carbon cycling responds to environmental change requires disentangling the interacting effects of climate, nutrient availability, soil properties, and organic matter quality. This is particularly important in high-latitude ecosystems, where large soil carbon stocks and slow decomposition rates make carbon balance highly sensitive to small biogeochemical shifts.
This project investigates how global change influences carbon dynamics using a network of long-term field experiments, including litter decomposition studies, nitrogen–phosphorus fertilization, and natural elevation and precipitation gradients. We apply a complementary set of methods: standardized Tea Bag Index (TBI) assays, litterbag experiments with local birch leaves, ecosystem respiration measurements, vegetation surveys, soil organic matter analyses, and soil microbial community characterization.
Together, these approaches allow us to link environmental drivers to decomposition processes, microbial activity, and carbon fluxes, improving our understanding of how Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems may respond to ongoing climate change.